UKFast Leadership

from Lawrence Jones

Are you up for a challenge?

Whether you are a prospective client, a client, a member of the UKFast team or even someone aspiring to join our great organisation, you are a valued person in our eyes and I challenge you to help us improve UKFast.

Our leadership style is certainly an unusual one and it does break conventions.

A great many organisations take their leadership courses from the Army and employ Ex-Army Officers to help develop a strong style and well defined sense of leadership.

Like many businesses before us, we did at one point in our history follow a similar route employing a top trainer from Sandhurst, the Officer Training Academy. And yes, we have found some very useful tools which help deliver excellence and build spirit, but at the same time a huge amount of what we do is developed from within and also influenced by a wide variety of sources.

Our leadership is about challenge. Are you up for the challenge? Are you looking for a business that is going to grow and develop far faster than any other business in the UK? If you are, it is highly likely that your business or career is developing at a fast rate of knots too. Consequently you will benefit from partnering with UKFast.

As a graduate or new recruit, you are recruited on the basis of your attributes and values, but you are also regarded as a blank canvas. During your first two weeks at UKFast you are immersed in our Academy. Part of your initiation involves time in our training centre in North Wales, where you will go through the exact training and team building every team member has done before you. The training centre, called Castell Cidwm, is an old hotel and a jewel in the Snowdonian National Park. Gail and I bought it in 2008 and alongside the training facility it's an excellent get away for strategic thinking.

As a client you are only a phone call away from myself or the other directors. I take a lot of pride in helping others. If you genuinely want help we run a series of private round tables and events which are exclusively for friends of UKFast where you can rub shoulders with other top entrepreneurs and find out just what makes the finest entrepreneurs tick. Whatever stage in your business career, this is something you might want to consider. If you are a small business aspiring for your first million, mid sized or even large, I always make time for the people around me and aim to inspire people to reach the next level of their journey.

I'm never happier than when I have a heavy pack on my back, carrying everyones provisions up the mountains. I have a passion for the outdoors and taking people (including myself) well outside of their comfort zones. Jim Collins writes about 'level 5 leaders', people who aren't overtly, outwardly confident, but work hard to empower the people around them. I consistently look to improve myself in order to fit this mould.

Friends and leaders who inspire me include Richard Branson, John Timpson, Chet Holmes and Tony Robbins.

Some of the team making a difference at the Children’s Adventure Farm Trust.
33% of children in the UK are living in poverty, according to the latest figures from the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) – that’s an astonishing 4.5 million children.
A third of an entire generation is living without their most basic of needs being met. When you look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a stable home with warmth, food and drink is the...

It seems so long ago now that for the newer generations growing up, it is just a story from years gone by. Each generation getting further and further away.
It is hard for people to imagine, let alone associate with such atrocities that our Grandparents and Great Grandparents endured.
With the last three remaining soldiers from World War I passing away in 2009, it’s a memory, but a very important one. Hostilities formally ended “at...

When you look around at the world that we live in, it’s clear that there is a constant, urgent, need for continuous investment in our public services.
Schools, hospitals, the emergency services, roads, welfare – there is an endless list of critical services that we rely on our government to provide. And they can’t do it without our help.
We all rely on each other to do our bit and contribute in our own small...

Having recently done podcasts with a few sporting legends, I have noticed a trend. They all know when it is time to move on. Manchester United legend Gary Neville knew his time on the pitch had come to an end and sat privately contemplating the prospect during half-time in his last match. England, Lions and Premiership rugby star Mark Cueto knew it was time to hang up his rugby boots when he realised he was...

Are you at the top of your game? Performing at the very best level you can? If not, why?
Whether you’re a sportsperson, a businessperson or someone striving to achieve a goal, we all need to work out how to perform at that optimum level for as long as possible. It’s a subject I am hooked on, always looking for the nuances that may give me an edge.
So, did you get enough sleep last...

Graph posted on Statista.
The single most important facet of democracy is the freedom of speech. Journalists are the agents of this freedom. They put their lives on the line to ensure that we receive the truth from across the world – from the front line of terrifying wars to the dark corners of oppressive regimes.
There’s no denying that the press have been questioned themselves lately. British journalists are often criticised for focusing on ‘Red Top’...

What do da Vinci, Edison, Tesla and Einstein have in common? Yes, they’re some of the greatest innovators the world has ever seen. Between them they’re responsible for the modern world as we know it!
They’re also reported to have been dyslexic.
Mohammad Ali, Steven Spielberg, Erin Brockovich, David Rockefeller and Richard Branson are all on this list too. All incredible in their field, all reportedly having dyslexia.
So why is it that dyslexia is...

The world is changing. Twenty years ago, even a decade ago, business security meant shutters over windows and secure doors. It meant barred windows at banks, vaults and safes.
Now, securing a business is entirely different. Whilst, of course, physical security is as important as ever, now we have the invisible layer protecting our online presence and the modern world’s most valuable asset: data.
Data has been coined ‘the new oil’, such is its extraordinary...

A few years ago when you asked young people what they want their career to be in, many would say footballers or something glamorous. Inevitably someone would say social media star! However, these days, it’s cool to be an entrepreneur.
People want to be their own boss, to run their own empires.
Whilst this is fantastic and we, of course, want to encourage more and more people to set up British businesses and boost our...

When was the last time that you made a snap judgement? Perhaps it was about an occasion, a decision you had to make or about a person.
We are all guilty of making an instant call on things. We look at people and make a decision about them based on what they wear, how they speak, who they associate with or what they do for a living. Whether we consciously do so or not, it...